Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Chapter 18

"Guys!", Kurt exclaimed when he spotted Finn, Rachel and Mercedes at the doorway. He took Finn by the arm, dragging him into the house while and the others followed them.

"That's what I call a greeting", Finn answered and put his arm around him. He raised his eyebrow when he looked at the hallway.

"Is this…?"

"A giant heart out of roses? Yup." Kurt turned to the girls and hugged them shortly.

"You look great, boo", Mercedes said. "Spending time at the countryside seems to do you good."

Kurt beamed at her.

"I also think so", Blaine's voice behind him said. Kurt turned around and smiled at him as well. He took his hand and squeezed it softly.

Kurt couldn't describe how good it felt that they could do this – no matter where they were and who saw them. They had talked about it, whether it would be awkward when his friends and partly Blaine's former students saw them like that, but they decided to ignore it. Kurt wanted to touch him, whenever and wherever he wanted to.

Nobody seemed to be grossed out or something because they held hands. It was the opposite – there was only openness and happiness in their eyes.

"You all look great as well, even you, Rachel", Kurt joked, looking at her summer-outfit.

Rachel grimaced. "As I can hear, the party is in full swing", she said, surely meaning the music that came out of the backyard.

"Mildred was dancing in the backyard since this morning.", Kurt explained. "I preferred supervising the caterers taking care of the buffet – they delivered a five-layer cake and one million cakepops."

Mercedes' eyes lit up. "I love cakepops." She held her present in the air. "Where do I need to bring the present?"

"Follow me", Kurt said and wanted to lead them to the hallway and to the backyard when Finn held him back with his arm. Kurt let go of Blaine's hand, looking at him , confused.

"We also brought a surprise guest", he said.

The first thing that came to Kurt's mind was: hopefully not grandfather. The second thing was that Finn knew him better than everyone else, he would never do that to him.

Finn reopened the entrance door and someone else entered the house.

Someone Kurt had never seen in jeans and a shirt before.

"Andy!", he exclaimed and stepped to his former chauffeur.

"It's great to see that you are in good health, Mr. Hummel", he answered formally. He hugged him back when Kurt pulled him into his arms, and Kurt realized how familiar his scent was to him.

Andy smelled like leather seats and the aftershave he knew from his childhood. After a couple of seconds, they let go of each other.

"Your brother invited me", Andy explained. "I hope it's okay."

"Okay?", Kurt repeated incredulously and looked back and forth between Finn and Andy. "That's a great surprise!" He let him enter. "Andy, that's my boyfriend Blaine. Blaine, that's Andy."

They both shook hands, smiling politely at each other. "Mildred will be happy to see you", Kurt said excitedly, pointing to the hallway. "Shall we?"

When the others nodded, Kurt intertwined his fingers with Blaine's again and they went through the wintergarden to the backyard.

"Oh wow", Rachel mumbled behind him.

"Now, you understand what I meant by 'colorful'", Kurt explained, looking at the others looking around in the backyard.

On the trees were thousands of helium balloons, in the center of the backyard was a large table with beverages and a selection of the finest appetizers that made Kurt's mouth water.

The rest of the backyard had been decorated with lampions, confetti and paper streamers. Mildred came over to the group, smiling. She wore a flowery dress, her chestnut hair was tied back.

"Hello everyone!"

When she spotted Andy, her eyes widened. After she had hesitated for a couple of seconds, she pulled him in a hug. "What a surprise."

"Hello, Mildred", Andy said and added something more quietly, but Kurt couldn't hear it anymore because the doorbell was ringing.

"Are you coming?", Kurt asked Blaine and he nodded eagerly. Hands intertwined, they went to the hallway. Before Kurt could open the door, Blaine touched him on his wrist. Questioning, Kurt cocked his eyebrows, but in the next moment, Blaine leaned over to him, kissing him softly.

"What was that for?", Kurt asked hoarsely after they let go of each other.

"No reason", Blaine smiled.

Kurt's heart skipped a beat. Back then, they couldn't just do things like that with no reason. But now, it had changed. He pulled Blaine closer and wanted to kiss him again when the doorbell was ringing again. Kurt rolled his eyes and Blaine bit back his laughter.

When he opened the door, he couldn't see anything because there was a giant present covering everything. When it moved, Brittany's grinning face appeared next to it. "We have a delivery for Kurt Hummel."

The blonde turned to Santana next to her, questioning. "Did I say it right, San?"

Santana laughed quietly. "Yes. It was perfect, Britt."

Kurt looked down their intertwined hands, grinning widely. "Look at that, the first lesbian Princess of Spain? I have already read the article, Satan", he smirked. "Respect."

Fortunately, that was also what the majority of Spain's population was thinking about Santana's coming out.

Santana boxed him in the shoulder. "Thanks, Lady Lips." She and Brittany hugged him shortly after they had put down the present. "It's weird without you."

The Latina turned to Blaine. "Hello there, Mr. A"

"Please, call me Blaine", Blaine said immediately.

Santana nodded. "Kay. But now that you are one of us, don't think I will spare you with a nickname, hobbit."

While Kurt threw her a killing glance, Blaine laughed, amused. Brittany looked around, curious. "I have never been to a Yay-They-Got-Back-Together party. Will you unpack the presents now, or…?"

"I wish", Kurt muttered, snorting.

"Mildred planned everything for this afternoon", Blaine explained, smiling. "First, we will eat, after that we will unpack the presents. But if I had it my way, we could start with the presents." He nodded to the giant gift of the girls. "Looks interesting."

Kurt wanted to have a look at it, but Santana clutched it tighter. "Forget it, Lady", she said mischievously.

Behind them, Artie and Mike appeared with his girlfriend, presents in hand. The boys were smiling when they hugged Kurt shortly and shook Blaine's hand. "I hope it is okay for you that I brought my girlfriend with me. You all surely know Tina, right?", Mike said, looking in the round.

Blaine next to Kurt smiled. "Tina, nice to see you again! How is your poodle?"

Tina smirked. "Hayley is fine, but today, she was not in the mood for a party. Maybe she will accompany us next time."

Kurt confusedly looked back and forth between his boyfriend and Mike's girlfriend. "You know each other?"

"Tina and I used to be childhood friends", Blaine explained. "And we still stayed in touch a bit."

"How nice", Kurt said, nudging Blaine playfully. "You never told me."

Artie turned around. "I think Quinn, Puck, Sam and Chandler are arriving now." He looked at an old car that was driving up the driveway.

"Why didn't you all drive together?", Kurt asked Mike, surprised.

"Sam said it is good for his car to use it more often. But I doubt that we all would have fitted into Tommy", Tina laughed.

"Not with that monstrosity", Blaine grinned, pointing at the girls' present.

"Can it be that I smell cake? I think I smell cake", Brittany spoke up, looking around and sniffing. Her eyes were sparkling with excitement.

Kurt needed to bite back his laughter. "Do you want to go ahead? You know the way, right?"

His five friends nodded in agreement. When they all went down the hallway, Kurt noticed how Santana squeezed Brittany's hand lovingly and it made his heart warm up. He knew that the girls had always been close friends, but he never would have thought that there was more between them.

"As I have heard, the year's hottest party takes place here?", they heard Puck's voice, and Kurt turned around to see him, Quinn, Sam and Chandler go up the stairs.

Kurt's heart was beating faster when he saw Chandler. He had no idea how to act around him. A few weeks ago, Chandler had called to apologize for what he had done, and since then, they didn't talk again.

"That's right", Kurt answered a bit late, letting Puck, Quinn and Sam hug him and not noticing how the three of them were talking to Blaine.

"Are the others already here?", Sam asked.

"Yes, in the backyard", Blaine answered, nodding to the hallway behind them.

The boys nodded and went ahead, Quinn followed them, throwing Kurt a worried glance before she entered the backyard.

Now, Chandler, Blaine and he were alone. An uncomfortable silence was filling the hallway.

"Hello", Chandler said with a raspy voice. He was wearing sunglasses, just like Sam and Puck before.

"Hi", Kurt answered. "Great you made it to the party."

Chandler gulped and forced himself to smile. "Thanks for the invitation." He took off his shades and put them into his pocket.

Blaine and Chandler just stared at each other with gritted teeth, the atmosphere was tensed up.

Finally, Chandler cleared his throat. "Mr. Anderson, I'm…"

Again, silence.

Next to him, Blaine exhaled quietly. "You can call me Blaine, Chandler."

After an instant, Chandler nodded. "Okay.", he said. "Blaine."

Kurt took a step towards him to hug him as well. Chandler was so surprised, but after a while, he hugged him back. In this moment, Chandler was just the boy Kurt knew all his life and who had been there for him whenever Kurt needed him.

"Everything okay?", Chandler asked, looking as insecure and broken as Kurt felt.

"Not yet", Kurt answered earnestly. Chandler's eyes turned dark for a second, but Kurt opened his mouth again before he could say anything. "But it will be alright again. For sure."

With these words, Kurt closed the door behind him and brought him together with Blaine to the backyard to all their friends.

Mercedes loved how Mildred Hummel decorated the backyard with so many colorful accessories and balloons. She also noticed how cool this woman was, because she was smiling constantly, and chatting with her about her blog, telling her how great it is. She already loved the party, and she arrived fifteen minutes ago.

However, after Sam entered the backyard, her face fell. While the other greeted him nicely, Mercedes quickly turned to Tina, praising the mini skirt she was wearing. She just couldn't look at him.

She was aware that it wouldn't be easy today. Having lost Sam as a friend hurt, even though she tried to hide it, but the pain in her chest wouldn't vanish at the moment, and she couldn't even listen to Tina talking about the new collection of fake lashes.

After that, Mercedes tried ignoring Sam's presence and not flinching every time he laughed or something. She was glad when Mildred took her by the hand and lead her to the big white linen cloth that was hanging in the backyard.

"Oh, that's great", Mercedes gushed when she looked at the flowers on it. "Have you drawn them?"

Mildred nodded and looked kind of proud. "I found the model on pinterest" She nodded to the color palette on the table next to them.

"What do I have to do?"

"That's finger paint", Mildred explained. "Just dip your finger inside it and paint whatever you want to."

Mercedes followed orders and Mildred next to her beamed when she saw the blue fingerprint on the linen cloth.

"Wonderful, Mercedes! You are quite talented", Mildred praised her.

Mercedes cocked her head to the side because she only had painted her fingerprint, but she was happy anyway.

Mildred waved at someone behind them. "Hey, Andy, you need to try as well!"

The chauffeur turned around, cocktail in hand, and stiffened. "I…erm…Really?" He sighed and went over to the linen cloth.

Mercedes found it quite amusing that he talked so formally to Kurt, Finn and Mildred although they were in surrounded by thousands of colorful balloons.

"Here, take yellow", Mildred winked.

"Why yellow?"

"Because it is a festive color, and it's supposed to be a festive painting."

The way they acted, how Mildred offered him the color palette and Andy's smile got less tensed up, made it clear how long they must know each other.

"I can't believe you made Andy paint", Mercedes heard Finn's voice next to her.

Mercedes turned to him, grinning. "He is really talented, rig – " The words she wanted to say vanished from her head, she stiffened.

Sam was standing next to Finn, looking at her. He looked like he wanted to say anything to her. She wasn't prepared for this.

Mercedes quickly excused herself and ran back into the house. She crossed the wintergarden and entered the guests' bathroom. After she had closed the door behind her, she needed a few minutes to breathe normally again.

Tears were burning in he eyes, but she didn't let them fall. This day was supposed to be great. She couldn't let Sam's presence let her feel down.

One last time, she checked her mascara, washed her hands for the tenth time and opened the door. When she turned around the corner, she almost bumped into someone.

"There you are", Sam said.

She just stared at him. He greeted her like she was his company or something, like he had searched and found her. As if they came together.

Bullshit.

Mercedes took a big step away from him. "What do you want?"

"I would like to talk to you now, if you have time", he answered.

"I don't know", she answered, insecure, looking around if someone was near them. She had no idea how she could explain it to Rachel if she found them together in a dark hallway.
That she skipped classes and barely had time for sleepovers and girls' nights with her. That she wanted to spend time with Sam because he had made her feel like she had never felt before.

Mercedes doubted that Rachel would understand her. She didn't even understand it herself.

"We really need to talk. Things can't continue like that."

"There is nothing that can continue", Mercedes answered tonelessly.

Sam flinched, his face expression became softer, almost painful.

"Mercedes", he said with a raspy voice. "I need to tell you something."

All negative thoughts about Sam returned to her head when he said that sentence.
You are not good enough. You will never be. So why are you even trying?

"If you lied to me before, I'm not quite sure whether I want to hear the truth." Mercedes sounded snappy and withdrawn, not like she usually acted.

Sam took a step towards her. "I lied when I said that we were friends, Mercedes."

A stinging pain was in her stomach.

She knew it.

She knew it the moment he had talked to her at the gala. She should have listened to her intention instead of listening to her heart.

"You know what, Evans?", Mercedes hissed, eyes narrowed. "I really don't have to listen to that crap. So please, step aside so that I can go back to the backyard."

"Mercedes", Sam said insistently.

She avoided his glance and stared at his chest instead. "You misunderstood me.", he said quietly. "I don't want to be your friend. I want…more."

Suddenly, the thoughts in her heads vanished. She looked at Sam, but she was unable to form a sentence.

Sam took a deep breath and cleared his throat. "When we met the first time, I just wanted to have fun. But then, I got to know you more and I realized what a great person you are actually.

I started missing you even though we always stayed in touch, I was looking forward to every single meeting of ours.

You have always been there for me eve though I couldn't return you anything, and after some time, I realized something."

He needed to clear his throat again. "I like you, Mercedes. But it's even more. I think I'm about to fall for you, head over heels."

Mercedes just gaped at him, speechless. She tried to understand what he had just said, but she just couldn't.

"I'm aware that it's not mutual. And I…"

She shook her head quickly. "Who says that?"

He opened and closed his mouth. "Who says what?"

"That I don't want it? Who says that?", she asked him.

"You. On the gala back then. You made it clear what you think about me. And I respect it."

"You mean the evening we really talked to each other for the first time? And where you were drunk?", Mercedes asked incredulously.

Sam gulped. "Yes."

"I didn't really know you! I'm no girl that makes out with someone she doesn't even know."

Sam just stared at her. "Oh."

Her heart was beating unnaturally fast. The atmosphere was suddenly tensed up, but something else was in the air.

"Was that the reason why you didn't want me at your party?", she asked quietly.

Sam rubbed his neck nervously. "I was scared. Of the reaction of my friends when I introduce them to my new home. Of Finn's and Rachel's reaction. And of my feelings. It was just too much."

"I thought that you didn't want to introduce me to your friends, and it hurt."

Sam shook his head. "No, that's not true. It was… the timing. I was just overwhelmed."

"If I had known it, I wouldn't have been so mean to you."

"I should have told you about it", Sam answered. "I was just panicked that I could act weird around you and chase you away or something. I didn't want that. You are way too important to me."

"You are important to me as well, Sam. That's why I was hurt", Mercedes said quietly.

"Really?"

She nodded. Sam smiled again, that goofy, cute smile she knew for so long now. And today, it was so familiar to her.

Her stomach was prickling with butterflies and she kind of felt giddy.

"What are we doing now, Wonder Woman?", he asked hoarsely.

"I have no idea", Mercedes mumbled earnestly. Her heart was beating way too fast, she felt nervous.

"You need to tell me what you want", he said. "Whether we should stay friends. Whether we could be more. Or whether you want me to step aside so that you can return to the backyard."

Whether we could be more.

Mercedes had no idea what exactly he meant, but she was sure that she wanted exactly that.

"You don't need to step aside, Sam", she said, determined.

He exhaled. "Really?"

She shook her head, winking. "No."

He smiled at her happily, and she smiled back.

"May I kiss you, Mercedes?", he asked quietly.

Instead of answering, Mercedes came closer to him – and kissed him softly on his lips.

Sam seemed to be surprised, but after a second, he opened his lips, granting her access. She closed her eyes, feeling his soft lips on hers and enjoying the moment.

She didn't lose him. She had gotten more than she had wished for. Mercedes could feel how Sam's racing heart slowed down, just like hers. As if they would need each other to calm down.

Suddenly, someone behind them gasped. "What do you think you are doing?"

Rachel couldn't believe what was just happening in front of her eyes.

Mercedes and Sam were standing on the hallway, kissing. They looked intimate, as if they wouldn't be that close to each other for the first time.

They both pulled away immediately, and bad conscience was written all over Mercedes' face. Slowly, realization dawned on Rachel. That's why she hadn't been at school, lied to her friends and her family, and stared at her phone for hours.

Sam had to be the reason.

"I can't believe it", Rachel said, incredulous. "Just because of him, you have been so weird lately?"

Mercedes' eyes narrowed. "That's none of your business."

Rachel gritted her teeth. Yes, Mercedes was right, she knew it. And she didn't owe her an explanation or something. But that was Sam, goddammit!

"I don't care what you are doing with which person, if the person is a good one."

"Stop judging people, Rachel", Mercedes hissed angrily.

"Mercedes…", Sam mumbled, but she waved him off.

"I'm tired of this, Rachel. You are not my mother or something. Just because you don't approve of him, I'm not allowed to meet him, right?"

Rachel opened and closed her mouth. "That's not…"

"-True? Come on." Mercedes put her hands on her hips.

"Haven't you forgotten what he has done to me?", Rachel hissed eyes narrowed.

"So, this is all about you? I know that he is no saint, but nobody is! Kurt didn't react as bitchy as you did when I told him", Mercedes spat.

Rachel narrowed her eyes as well. "Wait…Kurt knew about it? And I didn't? I thought we were friends!"

"Friends?!", Mercedes snorted. "Friends don't act as selfish as you do, Rachel. Friends don't have to be afraid to tell each other of friendships because they might not approve of it. And first and foremost, friends are not only thinking about their own well-being!"

"Mercedes…", Sam tried again, but she ignored him. Mercedes put her hands on her hips, her glance was ice cold. "You didn't change all the years, Rachel Berry. You are still the self-absorbed, obnoxious bitch I got to know four years ago."

Rachel flinched; tears were burning in her eyes. These words really touched her to the core. She remembered back in junior high when her classmates where telling her exactly that, that was he day she had promised to herself to change for the better.

She wasn't that person anymore, right?

Right?

"You know what, Mercedes?", Rachel hissed, blinking back tears. Nope, she wouldn't cry now. No way. Nobody would make her feel down, never again. Instead, she balled her hands. "Go to hell."

Mercedes gaze was hostile, her hands were balled into fists as well. "Fuck you, Berry."

Sam just opened his mouth to intervene when someone else cleared his throat. "Guys!"

Everyone turned their heads; Puck was standing on the other end of the hallway. He had paled a bit. "I know you want to have a chick fight, and normally, I would be hooked, because that's totally turning me on. But…we have a bigger problem."

"What happened?", Sam asked, worried.

Puck gulped. "James Hudson just crashed Kurt's party."

A/N: Dun Dun Dun!